The walls that had taken such great effort to erect instantly crumbled. Shen Qiyuan’s expression unconsciously softened, though his mouth still grumbled: “Anyone can see it’s not quality goods. What I gave you was of superior craftsmanship.”

“Don’t want it?” She made a gesture as if to throw it out the window.

Shen Qiyuan hooked his finger, and the thumb ring flew from her hand to his thumb.

“It would be a waste to throw it away,” he said. “It can barely serve to match my bowstring.”

The jade of warm and lustrous quality had been ground by her into over twenty surfaces, crisscrossing chaotically, but one could tell from looking that considerable effort had been spent.

Shen Qiyuan’s anger subsided somewhat, though not completely. He only said in a stiff voice: “It’s hard to believe you could grind this thing while taking care of him.”

Ruyi chuckled softly: “I already told you it was randomly bought roadside.”

“Hmph.”

He closed his hand, tucking the thumb ring into his sleeve, gently caressing it.

They arrived at the Ministry of Justice. Just as Shen Qiyuan was about to get out of the carriage, Ruyi jumped down ahead of him.

The wind was strong outside. She wore only a rabbit fur-trimmed concubine-colored jacket, with a gauze long dress underneath—it looked cold just watching her.

He frowned, opening his mouth to scold, but that person had already run out of sight.

Hua Fuman happened to emerge, handing a thick stack of case files to Zhou Tingchuan, bowing to him.

“Wait a moment,” Shen Qiyuan said irritably. “There’s a fool who insists on buying you breakfast.”

Fuman raised an eyebrow. She had originally thought he meant Zhao Yanning, but seeing the master’s thoroughly annoyed expression, she understood and gestured: How did the mistress come?

“Who knows?” Shen Qiyuan squinted into the distance.

The roadside trees were all blown askew by the fierce wind, let alone people. When that person ran back, her skirt hem fluttered, sleeves pulled by the wind, as if she might be swept away.

Fire and anger knotted in his chest. Shen Qiyuan watched with an iron-dark face as she jumped up the steps and stuffed the buns in her arms to Fuman, opening his mouth to mock her with a few words.

“Here, this is yours.” A package of hot brown paper was stuffed into his arms.

He froze, frowning as he looked up.

Ruyi smiled at him, spiritual light flowing in her eyes: “I guessed Master hadn’t eaten breakfast. I especially chose light filling, not greasy.”

The buns had been kept warm by her, and after running all the way, they could still burn in his arms, burning until his heart ached.

Shen Qiyuan pressed his lips together, only saying coldly after a long while: “No need for your concern.”

“Stop talking nonsense. It’s so cold outside, quickly go in and eat.” With one hand pulling Fuman and the other linking his arm, she brazenly walked toward the door.

“This is a government office,” he said. “One cannot be discourteous.”

Ruyi released him, glaring at him reproachfully, then, only hugging Fuman’s arm, asked: “Have you encountered any trouble these past two days?”

Fuman obediently shook her head. With Master Shen’s protection, naturally, everything was fine, but…

She wrinkled her brow, then quickly relaxed it.

Ruyi noticed but didn’t ask much, watching Shen Qiyuan go to the main hall for business before pulling her toward the clerks’ small courtyard: “What’s wrong?”

“I, this is my first time seeing Master, Master handle a case like this.” Fuman wrinkled her nose tip and said quietly, “Based on previous evidence, Lady Zhang indeed committed, committed suicide. But, but after reviewing twice, Master said it was, was murder.”

Shen Qiyuan had always been meticulous in handling cases, rarely concluding before cases were decided, but this time, when she still felt the evidence insufficient, Master was already confident of his judgment.

It wasn’t that there was a problem anywhere, just somewhat uncomfortable to adapt to.

Ruyi listened as she recounted the newly discovered evidence, grasping two key points: there was a hanging bead from a jade pendant at the scene, belonging to Yuncheng; the crying sounds the steward heard that day were also heard by household servants near the side room in the back courtyard.

The most favorable evidence for Yuncheng’s innocence was the crying sounds in the room after he left, but what if those cries weren’t made by Lady Zhang?

“After, after organizing these properly, we can go, go back.” Fuman pointed to the case files on the table.

Ruyi nodded: “I’ll help you.”

Ordinarily, these case files couldn’t pass through outsiders’ hands, but for Ruyi, Fuman felt no need to avoid her, so she divided a stack for her.

Ruyi organized the case files at a glance: “Have Tingchuan send you back first. I still have matters to discuss with Master Shen.”

“Good.” Fuman nodded.

The Imperial Clan Court had guards every ten steps, security extremely tight, but perhaps Zhou Tingchuan had given advance notice—she wasn’t blocked all the way to the main hall.

Only Shen Qiyuan was on duty today; the six side tables around him were empty.

Ruyi entered, closed the door, and looked at him deeply.

The crimson-purple court robes suited this person extremely well. Perhaps because they suited him too well, she had forgotten this person was already a first-rank official at such a young age. This was a height that couldn’t be reached by the status of being the Eldest Princess’s son alone, and also a domain that magic arts couldn’t touch.

In other words, what Shen Qiyuan had done for the emperor these twenty years should be far more than simply improving his fate.

Sensing her gaze, Shen Qiyuan looked up: “What?”

Ruyi smiled: “Fuman went back first. These are the case files Master requested.”

Taking the stack of documents, Shen Qiyuan glanced over them, slightly pressing his lips: “You’ve read them.”

“Even if I didn’t read them, I’d know sooner or later.” She naturally sat on his desk. “The Zhang family of Huizhou—without any visible business, yet extremely wealthy. Such households surely have many people curious about them.”

He gathered the case files, saying indifferently: “Matters unrelated to you—why must you care so much?”

“Since they’re unrelated to me, why must Master deceive me as well?” She slightly closed her eyes. “You know I hate being deceived.”

Lady Zhang indeed might have been pushed to the knife’s edge by someone, but if Yuncheng truly wanted to kill her, how could he choose such a foolish method? What if he couldn’t kill with one strike—what then?

To frame someone, he shouldn’t have been present himself. Better to have household servants poison her, or push her into a pond to drown.

Someone as clever as Shen Qiyuan—how could he make such a deduction full of holes?

Unless Lady Zhang’s identity was very special, so special that her death could only be a crime of passion, otherwise it would cause troubles that even Shen Qiyuan couldn’t resolve.

What kind of troubles couldn’t he resolve?

Ruyi stared at him quietly.

Shen Qiyuan didn’t look up: “I merely stated possibilities you hadn’t considered. How does that count as deception?”

“You attempted to mislead me. If not for these thirty case files, all investigating people who had recent dealings with the Zhang family of Huizhou, I would have truly fallen for your trick and thought Yuncheng was the murderer.”

“Yuncheng is the murderer.”

“He is not.” She tapped the table. “He’s the person with the least reason to kill Lady Zhang. Setting aside that their children are already eight years old, when he married Lady Zhang back then, didn’t he have…”

“Ruyi.” He interrupted her.

Wind blew through the window cracks. Ruyi felt a chill on her neck.

She looked up to see him close the memorial in his hands, his eyes deep and dark, seriously and solemnly saying to her, “Don’t meddle in others’ affairs.”